Posted by yxibow on September 23, 2005, at 0:26:06
In reply to My opinion on antipsychotics » xjs7, posted by Chairman_MAO on September 22, 2005, at 21:14:19
> As I jsut said in another post, no one should have to take these things unless it is a LAST DITCH effort.
People with moderate to severe schizophrenia really have no choice but to take antipsychotics, whether they be atypical or old line. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal, and also on Google News in the past few days describing a large NIH study between perphenazine and zyprexa and other atypicals. The opinion was that except for EPS the treatment was similar for schizophrenia. I happen to somewhat disagree, I think there still is a greater risk with the old line antipsychotics for TD but that is up to debate.
If you live in Southern California, and you go walk on the beach in Santa Monica, you will see the people who are not taking antipsychotics. They were let out of the mental hospitals in the 1960s and 1970s when money ran out and the whole system of treating patients changed. Now the beaches of (and I will admit I am a liberal myself but...) the very liberal city of Santa Monica are flooded daily with the homeless, a great deal of whom have schizophreniform disorders. A lot more could be done for them if they got treatment. It is a sad comment on life.>
> People should take barbiturates for anxiety before antipsychotics.Barbiturates were replaced by benzodiazepines for a very good reason. One (and please NOBODY do this at ALL) could swallow part of a jar of Valium and still be on earth tomorrow with some incredible discomfort and hospitalization. Seconal, and you would have an epitaph in the newspaper. They have only limited usage today for specialized conditions.
>>The only reason they are used so often is beacuse of the drug policy--and because they're a cash cow for pharma companies.
The novel atypicals I will agree are expensive on the schizophreniform disorder industry. Schizophreniform disorders cost more than $2 billion US a year, just in this country.But for some people, despite the cost, the atypicals are less harsh on the system and have considerable less EPS. It all depends on the individual.
Some may not have much EPS at all and can take old line drugs like Orap or Mellaril or the whole list of them (although Haldol is the worst example).
But some with schizoaffective disorder, the new line drugs are the only reasonable choice -- a number of people with affective disorders have a greater risk for TD and greater amounts of EPS
>Opioids are antipsychotic as well, and way safer.
Opiods are very experimental and are used by doctors who risk their medical license and malpractice insurance for prescribing medications that are, whether you feel to agree or not, way outside the scope of psychopharmacology. It would be like my psychopharmacologist prescribing Accutane. It just isn't in the general realm of practice.
poster:yxibow
thread:558119
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050921/msgs/558390.html